


For the Good of Many

by apocalypticblonde



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Canon-Typical Violence, Fate & Destiny, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-05 08:27:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17321486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apocalypticblonde/pseuds/apocalypticblonde
Summary: When siblings Hannah and Jace fall into the River Thames during a family trip, they emerge in a world at war. Will they be able to face the trials ahead of them? Not your average "Girl Falls Into Middle Earth" fic. NOT Mary-Sue. NOT 10th walker.





	1. Falling Up

**Author's Note:**

> I began this fic in 2012. This fic is so old, the _slang_ is outdated. Seven years later, I’ve finally come back to it. 
> 
> This is mainly an exercise in writing, so please feel free to leave constructive criticism. This fic was originally posted to FFN under the same name (if you read it, please keep in mind I wrote it as a 17-yo – lol it’s terrible), and has been heavily edited, taking into account previous reviewers’ suggestions. I did change one character’s name – why not? 
> 
> So, if you enjoy tragedy, and (hopefully) unpredictable Girl-falls-into-Middle-Earth fics, please scroll down.
> 
> Disclaimer: no copyright infringement is intended. I am only borrowing Tolkien's creation for my own amusement. Only original characters and story belong to me.

_Squish, squish, squish._

The water in her holey winter boots had soaked into her socks and between her toes. Hannah looked down with disgust and wiggled her toes, trying to change her stride so the aggravating noise would lessen. What a day.

The morning had begun well enough with warm beverages and a hot breakfast of eggs and bacon. On the agenda was a visit to Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament. She and her family were hopeless tourists, she knew, but at the same time Hannah couldn’t make herself care. How cool was it to visit these historical landmarks? Weighty matters had occurred there – ones that had gone down in the history books. Royalty had walked these halls. She also could barely wrap her mind around how _old_ they were. Nothing back home in the States could be older than a few hundred years old. The closest things they had to ancient landmarks were natural landmarks, and while Hannah had an appreciation for sites like these, it just didn’t compare to the architecture in London. Her unbridled excitement had her vibrating with energy as she stepped out the door.

Things rapidly went south. Her feet had landed in a puddle and she just knew the day was not going to go as planned. Now, three hours later, she knew her prediction had been accurate.

"I can't believe we got lost on a tour! How hard can it be to follow a tour guide?" she grumbled as she dug through her voluptuous backpack, pushing past all of the memos and guidebooks she had collected in anticipation of the trip. Of course, her cell phone would have to be at the bottom of her bag at the most inconvenient moment. The frigid winter air made her shiver, despite the many layers she wore, and the normal hustle and bustle of London was noticeably subdued due to the miserable weather. The low-hanging rainclouds overhead only served to increase Hannah's bad mood. Though the rain had mercifully stopped a few minutes ago, the clouds were brimming with moisture and a fat drop of water fell every few minutes on her hands or nose. Her puffy jacket kept her warm enough but every inch it didn’t cover was soaked through. Good thing she’d already had her flu shot.

“Hey, don’t blame me,” Jace said. Her soggy younger brother stood a few paces away, holding his phone in the air as he tried to find cell service. If they could only get in touch with their parents to come pick them up, they might have a drier end to the day. At ages 23 and 21, the siblings made for a naïve, foolish pair of tourists. Their group had left them at the souvenir shop – or they had left their tour group, Hannah wasn’t sure. Jace had gotten distracted, as was his wont, and now, the pair of them leaned against a metal railing that kept pedestrians from falling headlong into the icy River Thames. It was a quiet stretch, and the architecture that Hannah had been so excited to see beckoned mockingly from a distance. They could probably get there if they put their mind to it, but she didn’t particularly enjoy the thought of spending another second in her damp clothes – or the rain.

 Jace broke Hannah's reverie by sliding his cell phone into his pocket. Hannah paused in her digging. "Why did you stop?" she asked in irritation.

"Dead battery." Jace shrugged.

Hannah frowned. Why did his every communication have to involve a shrug? She continued digging through her bag with renewed vigor. “Dammit.”

“You think yours will work?” Jace queried, rubbing his hand down his face in a tired gesture.  
  
Hannah’s fingers closed around a smooth, cold, rectangular object and she sighed as her barely contained panic almost instantly slipped away. She was much too addicted to her phone for her own good. She pulled the phone out and slipped it into her coat pocket while she began to repack her backpack, cramming the papers and books as far down as she could make them go. Perhaps if she pushed them down far enough they wouldn’t get wet.

“Maybe,” she answered. She sagged against the metal railing, and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She moved too quickly, though, because as soon as the phone had left her pocket, it was airborne. _No no no no no…_

"Oh, crap!" Jace exclaimed.

Crap wasn’t exactly the word Hannah had been thinking of. She looked down wide-eyed at the slim silver rectangle lying in the mud… on the other side of the metal railing. Why was the universe set against them today?

Jace must have noticed her stricken expression. “I got this,” he said swiftly and kindly. Before Hannah could protest, he was on the other side of the railing.

“Jace! What are you doing?! That’s dangerous - it’s slippery!” Between the siblings and the phone lay a treacherous, five-foot slope, muddy from recent rains and practically vertical. There was no way a human being could make the climb in these conditions without slipping into the river.

“I’ll be fine! Don’t worry.”

Hannah looked on with worry as Jace eased down the slope and slowly crouched down to reach toward the phone. Her heart constricted with anxiety. They could just walk to a payphone. It would be fine. Maybe they could come back with a shovel or a tool to scoot the phone closer to the walkway… Or she could just get a new one. She’d wanted an upgrade for awhile anyway. “Jace, please don’t. It’s not worth your life.”

“Everything’s fine, Hannah, I got this – whoa!”

Her misgivings had proved correct, yet again. Jace, with a yelp of surprise, lost his purchase on the muddy slope and slipped into the river. “Jace!” she shrieked. Hannah knew her brother was a strong swimmer – but it was _cold_. She knew how fast a person could get frostbite in these wintry waters. And what if he’d hit his head? “Jace!” she called again.

He was a strong swimmer. They had been on swim team together. So when he didn’t resurface immediately, she panicked. “JACE!!” she called one more time. When no answer came, and no part of her younger brother broke the surface, Hannah leaped over the railing, heedless of her own safety. Which was why, of course, she fell into the water too.

The cold water hit her like a brick wall. She had thought she was cold before… she had clearly been mistaken. She reflexively inhaled and choked. Swirling mud clouded her eyes and filled her lungs. She didn’t have time to realize that there was empty space where her brother should have been, or to realize that the water was far stronger than it looked on the surface. Desperate for air, she began to kick. She felt like she was sinking –or was gravity reversing? – she was getting into deeper water, though she was swimming with all her might towards what she thought was the surface. The muddy water pushed and pulled at her with unexpected strength, and her sense of direction was completely lost. Her only thought was a need for air. Seconds seemed to pass like hours. Hannah grew dizzy from lack of oxygen and the frenzied water, and black began to creep over the edges of her vision.

 _I'm going to drown_ , she thought. She sent a quick prayer heavenward.

Her lungs burned. The blackness crept slowly over her eyes like a thick woolen blanket, but all of a sudden, Hannah felt the world right itself. She finally knew which way was up. In a sudden burst of adrenaline, Hannah kicked upward, lungs straining for oxygen. _Almost there… almost there…_

Hannah's head broke the surface, and she began to splutter and cough up the brackish river water from her lungs. As she desperately gasped for air, water lapped at her face, and filled her lungs again. Her sodden boots and jeans were pulling her down, and in the back of her mind she remembered her emergency training. _Kick your boots off_. She began to use her right foot to push her left boot off but the laces were too tight. Inwardly she cursed herself. Normally, she would’ve been crying from the anxiety and panic if adrenaline weren’t surging through her veins – and if water weren’t filling her lungs. The water was still moving faster than she expected, and it was taking all of her ebbing strength to keep her head above the surface. Hannah knew that she wouldn't be able to tread water much longer. Her head slipped below the surface again…

Just at that moment, something closed around her waist and pulled her up. She felt a familiar body next to hers before she was quickly deposited on a gritty shore.

"Hannah, stay with me, come on!" Jace's voice was like that of an angel, echoing through her waterlogged ears. She coughed and heaved, unable to open her eyes, her need for air being the only sensation her body was capable of handling. Water expelled from her mouth as Jace hit her back between the shoulder blades, helping her body spew out the unwanted, alien substance.

Once all the water had been expelled from her lungs, Hannah flopped over onto her back where she lay gasping and shuddering as she inhaled huge lungfuls of sweet, sweet air. Gradually, the pounding of her heart lessened and her breathing slowed.

Jace eased down next to her, carefully avoiding the wet area where she had spit up water. "Okay?" he asked, worried.

Hannah coughed weakly before croaking "I love you, Jace."

Jace laughed in relief. “Love you too. Guess swim team paid off.”

"For you at least." Hannah sat up, eyes and nose streaming. She hastily wiped her face with her sleeve. "Thanks."

"You don't have to say thanks; you're my sister."

"Well, thanks anyway." A realization suddenly dawned on Hannah. "Where the hell are we?" she exclaimed.

"That's what I've been trying to figure out for the last hour."

"Wait… the last hour?"

"I came through an hour before you did."

"I fell into the Thames not even a minute after you, though! Wait… came through?"

"I don't know what's going on, but wherever we are, we're not in London anymore. I mean, look at that river! The Thames hasn't been that clean for over a century, if not more. I don't think the river we came out of is the same one we fell into. And then there are the plants. Look at how tall those trees are! I don't think there's a forest like this in London." Jace’s tone had taken on an excited air. His adventurer side was showing, she thought fondly through her exhaustion.

Hannah stayed silent, taking stock of their surroundings. Jace had made it sound like they had passed through some sort of gateway. Looking at their location, it was pretty clear why.

The river they had emerged from sparkled in the sunlight. It was wide, deep, and fast- flowing and it was so clear that you could easily see the riverbed twenty feet below the water's surface. The siblings rested on a narrow, three-foot stretch of rocky shore. Around them lay an immeasurable forest, which seemed to stretch from horizon to horizon. The trees themselves were tall and obviously ancient. Something about them made Hannah nervous, as if they might come alive at any moment. There was a certain malevolence in the air that put her on edge as well.

"We must have been carried downstream,” Hannah posited, though deep down she knew it couldn’t be true.

"Maybe…" her brother replied warily. “This is just… weird.” Hannah studied her brother as he thoughtfully gazed at the river rushing past their feet. It seemed he too couldn’t believe what they were seeing. If he hadn’t been seeing the same thing, Hannah would’ve thought it was the lack of oxygen making her hallucinate.

The siblings rested in companionable silence for a short time as they gathered their breath. As Hannah studied the landscape, she pushed away her doubts and questions about how they got there. Right now she just needed to recover. They could figure out what was going on later. As she glanced upward, however, she caught sight of movement in the corner of her eye. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing through the foliage of overhanging branches that shielded the pair from the sky. Jace followed her gaze and stood.

“It’s smoke!” he exclaimed, a tinge of hope entering his voice. “Maybe that means civilization is near.”

With stiff, creaking joints, Hannah stumbled to her feet. She leaned over Jace’s shoulder, peering through the foliage. It was indeed smoke. “Civilization is _exactly_ what I need right now,” she said with a tone of relief. A warm cup of coffee and a hot shower sounded heavenly. “It looks a bit big for just one house though,” she pondered. 

"Well, we're going to need to try and find someone who can help us get back to London. If there's anyone there, then we should see if they can provide us with any assistance." Jace suggested. Hannah nodded.

"It looks like we might get there if we follow the river a ways. It's as good a place as any to start."

"I think you're right," Jace affirmed. "But if we're not there before nightfall, we should make camp."

"Agreed. Let’s go.”


	2. The Trees Have Eyes

The siblings trudged through the overgrown forest, heading toward what they hoped was civilization. Creepers hung from the wizened trees, and branches crunched underfoot. The forest was crowded with ferns and brambles, the only open space littered with fallen tree limbs and gnarly roots. Though the sunlight had shone brightly near the river, the canopy created a dark environment filled with stale air. Hannah wasn't sure how long the two could keep it up. She deliberately didn’t think about the fact that a full-on jungle had taken over part of London.

"I could go for a nice, fat, juicy steak right now," Jace’s wistful voice carried from up ahead.

"Chicken alfredo," Hannah added, mouth watering.

"Barbecue chicken pizza."

"Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies."

"With milk."

"Berry pie."

"Ewww, no. Chocolate satin pie."

"Meh. Hot berry pie with vanilla ice cream on top is the best."

"We should stop talking about this, it's painful for my stomach," Jace complained.

Hannah fell silent, her own stomach growling painfully. Breakfast seemed like it had happened so long ago. Her throat grated with thirst, and her lungs pumped painfully, muscles aching and raw from her near-drowning experience. Jace sighed, clearly thinking along the same lines. It was nearing dusk, and the siblings hadn’t eaten for almost six hours.

Too bad you left your backpack back in London," Jace grumbled. "We could be feasting on delicious granola bars right now."

"Isn't there anything you learned in Boy Scouts that would help us find some food?" Hannah shot back, irritated at the mention of her backpack. Of course she would leave it behind. Their family had surely missed them by now – they were all supposed to meet up for dinner – and would go searching.

_They would go searching!_ “Jace, if Mom and Dad find my backpack, maybe they’ll know where to start looking!” She was reaching, she knew.

Jace knew it too. He looked back at her, raising one dark eyebrow. “In the bottom of the river.” He said bluntly. Hannah sighed and dropped her gaze. For a moment she had dared hope. The forest pressed in on her from every side, seeming to grow taller and more oppressive in her crestfallen state.

“Isn’t there anything you could do to find us some food? What did you learn in Boy Scouts?” she asked her brother in a small voice.  

Jace shrugged. "If we stopped, I could make some traps, but there's no guarantee they would work. I'm not even sure I remember how to make them. It would take too long anyway – I won’t be able to work at night. I’d even be nervous hunting for berries so close to evening. Poisonous berries can look a lot like edible ones."

_So much for dinner,_ she thought. Hannah nodded in acquiescence. “Let’s find a place to rest, then. Last thing we need is for someone to get a sprained ankle.”

In an attempt to fill their bellies, the siblings drank as much water from the river as they could hold, praying there weren't any deadly microorganisms in the cold, sweet water. A few yards downstream and into the forest a ways, the pair found a tiny clearing that would serve well as a makeshift camp. The land fell away into a shallow, mossy bowl, with a ring of trees guarding each side and reaching high into the canopy.

Night was now in full swing. Hannah could see small pinpricks of light peeping through openings in the foliage. However, the trees were so tall and grew so close together that the stars and moon provided no illumination on the forest floor.

"We should try and start a fire," Jace said.

"In the dark? That sounds like too much work for what it's worth."

"It's the middle of winter, Hannah!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's just, we don't want any injuries, and if we go traipsing around in the dark looking for firewood, someone is bound to trip over a tree root or something. Bad idea."

Jace was already moving away by the time Hannah finished talking. "Jace! Come back!" He paid her no mind, however, and with an irritated sigh, she went after him. His strides were so long, and her legs were so short, she could barely keep up. “Jace, don’t be an idiot,” she called softly. She didn’t dare raise her voice any louder, for fear of alerting any creature in these woods to their presence. The thought halted her in her steps. She paused, listening intently. Surely they would hear a creature approaching? _Not if it’s a mountain lion_ , her brain told her. What kind of fauna did England have, anyway?

Silence.

The noise of her gigantic brother breaking through the underbrush had faded away to nothing. Hannah fought the rising panic. Perhaps he had had the same thought as her?

"Jace?" Hannah called, hoping for a response. She listened intently, but the only noises she could make out were the rustling of the trees. Suddenly, the darkness seemed to press closer on all sides. She called out again. No answer.

Hannah began to run in the direction of where she had last heard Jace, taking care to tread lightly when at all possible. Every once in a while, she would stop and hope to hear some sort of sound that might give away her brother's location. With fear turning into a full-out panic attack, Hannah lost all sense of direction. The cramped quarters of the overgrown forest made it increasingly hard to maneuver, and Hannah repeatedly ran into trees that seemed to leap out of nowhere.

Hannah stopped running once more and listened. Just seconds later, a twig snapped loudly. She whirled around, heart pounding.

Nothing. Hannah took in the scene before her, eyes wide and strained for any sign of movement in the dark. She could barely make out shapes, let alone movement. She whipped around from side to side, trying to take in as much as her vision would allow her. She was so busy looking at ground level that for a full minute, she did not notice the proximity of the trees.

Then she looked up. The darkness of night only served to make the forest seem more malevolent. The shadows … _moved_ … as well as the trees themselves. In the darkness, it seemed as if the tall firs and conifers were looming over her, ready to crush her or grab her ankles and drag her underground. Suddenly, Hannah felt very small, like an insect, at the mercy of a very large… _being_. She turned and fled.

Just as she had predicted earlier, she tripped and fell to her hands and knees. She scraped her palms on a particularly ill-placed root, but that was the extent of her injuries. Hannah picked herself up off the ground and launched herself forward – into something soft and tall.

The shriek was burgeoning and about to pass her lips when she heard the voice. “Oof!” It was Jace. She looked upward. Sure enough, her younger brother’s silhouette was beside her.

It took a moment for her to gather her wits. "Thank God! Don't you ever go running off without me again!" she snapped, relief coloring her tone. Her panic at their separation slipped away, but the oppressing trees surrounding them would not let her heart settle quite yet. “Let’s get back to camp. This place is giving me the heebie-jeebies.”

Jace’s tone was shaken, much like hers. “Me too. Sorry for running off. I was cold.” Hannah didn't answer, instead patting his arm in a reconciliatory fashion. Jace bent to pick up the branches that he had dropped upon colliding with his sister, and the pair steadily made their way back to the miniature clearing that they had occupied earlier. Thankfully, Jace knew what direction in which to walk; Hannah was completely clueless. Once there, Jace cleared a space in the middle of the mossy hollow, and began to assemble a fire using the friction between two pieces of wood to spark a flame. Thankfully, the wood he had gathered was dry enough and they soon smelled smoke.

As soon as the smoke's odor became apparent, however, the trees began to move violently. Branches clacked together, leaves rustled angrily against one another, and there seemed to be deep, enraged howls arising in the distance. Suddenly, Hannah heard a cracking sound overhead. A horrific realization came to her mind.

"JACE, MOVE!" The siblings darted away from their attempted fire just in time. A huge branch fell from above. It would have killed the both of them had they not moved.

"Okay, that's it!" she shrieked. "No more fire!"

Jace agreed, shaken. "Let's get out of here."

The two ran from the clearing hand in hand. As they fled through the woods, they tripped over roots that appeared from nowhere, and caught their feet in briars that seemed to grab at their ankles. Creepers swung down from above and lashed their arms and faces. Branches fell around them, and one slashed at Hannah's face and shoulder, leaving a welt that she knew would swell and leave a magnificent red mark the next day. Jace wasn't doing much better. They stumbled forward, arms raised above their heads to protect their faces, only tracking one another as they passed through the unforgiving vegetation.

Nearly a quarter of an hour later, the trees appeared to settle. The aggressive rustling sounds lessened, and the howls dwindled, though it seemed the trees could start up again at any minute. Tree limbs no longer fell on or around them. Finally, Hannah and Jace could flee no more. Exhausted from the day's adventures and their recent escapade, they fell down beside one another on the soft carpet of pine needles and moss lining the forest floor.

Miraculously, they had found an open space where they could huddle together for warmth. Hannah's long blond hair still hung damp around her neck, and a chill crept up her spine. Their clothing was wet, providing no protection from the punishing chill in the air.

It was going to be a long night.


End file.
